Thanks to everyone for their input on this problem, eventually solved by
going back to the factory settings.

For the record, I think what happened was this. Office 97 comes with
internet access programs. These conflicted with the OS. Some of the funny
results included:

a "Mail and Fax" icon in the control panel, which couldn't be accessed
an "Outlook" icon on the desktop, which also couldn't be accessed (and which
disappeared when I did a complete uninstall)
the backup data facility wouldn't work.

My problem now is that I would like to install just the Word and Excel
programs from the Suite (because the latest versions of Office are hugely
expensive). Obviously, I'll do a Restore to a Point first, in case any other
incompatibilities emerge. But surely the risk of this is very low.

I bought a new computer this morning. It came with Vista Home Premium
pre-installed, and no discs. The guy at PC World said I'd be able to
generate Recovery Discs from the PC.

By mistake, I installed Windows 97. This seems to have caused some
serious problems, even though I have now uninstalled it.

1. Clicking on the Mail and Fax icon in the Control Panel brings a
message that says I have insufficient memory, and need to close some
windows, even though I have hardly any open.
2. The Outlook icon has disappeared.
3. I cannot back up my data. The process gives the message: Backup
failure, Catastrophic Failure 0x8000FFFF.

None of the restore points is earlier than the Office 97 installation. So
how can I repair this mess without having to buy a new copy of Vista, and
one on CDs?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Pete

Use the manufacturer recovery process. If you do not know what it is,
visit the computer manufacturer website and find out.